Year of Impossible Goodbyes
by Sook Nyul Choi
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sook Nyul ChoiEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-01-01
ISBN: 0440407591
Number of pages: 169
Publisher: Yearling
Book Reviews of Year of Impossible Goodbyes
Book Review: A great book to read...
Summary: 5 Stars
Taking you back into the time when the Japanese ruled Korea, the book Year of Impossible Goodbyes written by Sook Nyul Choi leads you on to an adventurous story. The author describes events in such a detail that the book seems so realistic that it is confused to be a nonfiction book, when it is fiction. This story takes place in 1945, when the Japanese ruled Korea. The story is set on this one particular family of a ten-year-old girl named Sookan, and the rest of her family members. The situation that this family is in clearly shows the harsh life of the Koreans. Sookan¡¯s father was working secretly for freedom while her brothers and sisters were away, forced to serve the Heavenly Emperor. Her mother was ordered to take care of the sock factory where the ¡°sock girls¡± worked to produce socks for the soldiers while Captain Narita tried to destroy everything of the family. Then finally, the war ended, but the family was faced by another challenge. The Russians, who had been attempting to gain power over the Koreans came and the same life of when the Japanese were there, reoccurred. Not being able to stand the everyday routine of the cruel Russians, the family decided to go down to South Korea, where Americans were. From this point, not knowing what they were about to face, the family risks their life on a journey to the other side of the country. Told in the view of first person, the author describes the events so well that sometimes it makes the reader feel like it is happening around them. Also, the author uses some Korean words written out in English so it helps the reader to be familiar with the words and to feel like they know more about the Korean culture. There are so many conflicts occurring within the story that it is even hard to remember them all. One of the main conflicts is the person verses person between Sookan¡¯s family and captain Narita. Captain Narita tries his best to ruin the family¡¯s life by sending the ¡°sock girls¡± to the soldiers to give ¡°pleasure¡±, taking away the most precious things in the family, cutting down the tree that the family loved, and finally taking part in killing Sookan¡¯s grandfather. Another example of conflict in this book is the person verses herself. Sookan has to fight herself to take care of her brother without her mother while they are trying to go to South Korea. She faces many challenges and thinks of giving up, but she keeps on reminding herself that she is an older sister so she should care for her brother. Person verses society between the people of Korea and their environment is another example of conflicts in the story. Being controlled by the Japanese, people suffer by being taken away from their families and giving up their lives for the people of Japan. Then they are abused by the Russians right after the Japanese leave. All these examples of conflicts add more flavors to the plot of the story. I consider this book as one of my favorite book. One of the reasons might be that the story, in many ways, relate to my family background and the life I have. I could truly understand the situation that the family was in while reading the book and felt so comfortable reading the book because it contained many familiar Korean words. I also enjoyed very much of the author¡¯s writing style of her vivid description of every single event and her magical power of putting the pieces of the story together like how you sew a quilt together with different pieces. The story flowed as I read and glued me on to the book that I couldn¡¯t stop reading. There were some vocabularies that I didn¡¯t know, but overall, the level of the vocabulary and story seemed to be perfect for me. This book was similar to a book I read, also written by a Korean author. Because the main characters were Korean in both books and the style of the two authors were similar, I was able to relate the two books in many ways. The challenge that the two main characters were facing because of racism was the most similar thing out of all the others. I enjoyed both books very much and the two books made me want to read another book written by a Korean author. If I were to give a rating from 1 through 10 of this book, I would give it a 9. Although almost every part of the book was enjoyable, there were some parts that I wanted to fix like how I feel towards all the other books I have read. Personally, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Korean history and it¡¯s background and would guarantee that this book will be considered as one of their favorite books like how it was for me.
Summary of Year of Impossible Goodbyes
It is 1945, and courageous ten-year-old Sookan and her family must endure the cruelties of the Japanese military occupying Korea. Police captain Narita does his best to destroy everything of value to the family, but he cannot break their spirit. Sookan's father is with the resistance movement in Manchuria and her older brothers have been sent away to labor camps. Her mother is forced to supervise a sock factory and Sookan herself must wear a uniform and attend a Japanese school.Then the war ends. Out come the colorful Korean silks and bags of white rice. But Communist Russian troops have taken control of North Korea and once again the family is suppressed. Sookan and her family know their only hope for freedom lies in a dangerous escape to Americancontrolled South Korea.
Here is the incredible story of one family's love for each other and their determination to risk everything to find freedom.
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